1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a single-color electroluminescence or EL element, a single-color EL backlight, a display device, and a method for manufacturing a single-color EL element.
2. Description of the Related Art
A display device including an EL element has been conventionally known in which a voltage is to be applied to an EL layer sandwiched between a pixel electrode and a counter electrode. If such a display device has a leak between the upper and lower electrodes due to contamination by an external substance or a pinhole formed in the EL layer, a current of a large magnitude flows at the leak point. In such a case, a sufficient voltage is not applied to the EL layer, so that the brightness of the EL element can decrease and, in a worse case, emission of light can fail.
Also, fabricating an EL element without causing a defect over a large area is difficult and, therefore, a leak repair technique is indispensable.
As an example of such a technique, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. S62-287596 discloses a display panel repair technique in which a defective portion is broken by burning with laser light.
However, when the repair is affected by disconnecting the defective portion by laser light irradiation, for example, there is a probability that one of the electrodes which is made molten by the laser light comes in contact with the other electrode, resulting in occurrence of a leak. In this case, repairing the display panel is difficult. Especially in the case of a common single-color EL element, a pair of electrodes are provided for applying a voltage to the EL layer. Thus, the single-color EL element has a disadvantage that occurrence of a leak between the electrodes due to laser light irradiation results in no emission over the entire EL element.